On the elimination of leap seconds

You’re probably already familiar with the xkcd webcomic, but if you’re not following the author’s “What if?” blog, you really should be. It’s like MythBusters, but for hypotheticals way too grand to actually test. If you’re into science or maths, you’ll love it, but even if you’re not, you’ll still find it approachable, hilarious and fascinating.

Today’s post, for example, answers this question from a reader in Germany:

Every now and then we have to insert a leap second because the Earth’s rotation is slowing down. Could we speed up Earth’s rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds?